After sighing, Simon lost interest in it.
That was only normal. This was a Material Plane, where good things were scarce to begin with. Moreover, John's strength was utterly ordinary among Lowgods. Throughout the entire battle, he had not even touched the corner of Simon's clothes. It was perfectly normal for him to be poor.
Although there was nothing valuable in John's Spatial Ring, John himself was worth quite a bit. He was a Lowgod, after all. Using his Godhead to create a Lowgod within the family would be quite good. And the enormous Thunder Dragon corpse he had left behind was also a rare material.
Simon then peeled off the entire hide of dragon scales, intending to find a master smith someday and have it forged into full-body armor. Divine Artifact Armor was rare because the materials required were simply too demanding. They were nearly impossible to find on a Material Plane, unless one had Simon's luck and sufficient strength to kill a godly magical beast and obtain the essence of its body.
Although Simon's defense after activating the Ice Mist Battle Armor was comparable to a midgod defensive divine artifact, he could not possibly keep the armor activated at all times. The consumption of divine power and soul power would be immense.
Thus, forging a set of Divine Artifact Armor was necessary. It would be highly effective against sneak attacks, and having another defensive measure was always a good thing.
Such a large set of dragon scales had also been carefully strengthened and nurtured by John with divine power for thousands of years. Simon estimated that it could produce at least several fine sets of armor. He would keep three for himself and leave the rest to the family to strengthen its foundations.
From the skinned Thunder Dragon corpse, Simon extracted the dragon tendons and kept the toughest dragon bones. As for the remaining useless flesh and blood, Simon casually tore open space and tossed it inside.
The vast, boundless Spatial Turbulence had now become Simon's oversized "trash can."
"What a cruel world. The strong take everything, while the weak lose everything."
After putting away John's gifts, Simon pushed open the stone door and entered his residence. The interior furnishings were quite elegant, showing that John had indeed put some thought into the place. Various little trinkets were displayed along the walls, but after careful observation, Simon found that they had no practical use beyond decoration.
Then, under the coverage of his Divine Sense, he discovered John's cultivation chamber.
This chamber extended deep into the mountain's interior. After entering, Simon found that the concentration of various Heaven and Earth Elements here was quite high, roughly seven or eight times that of the outside world. It was a good place for secluded cultivation.
After sweeping the room with his Divine Sense, he found it completely empty apart from a stone bed.
Forging Armor
After leaving the cultivation chamber, Simon inspected the place once more. Once he confirmed that John truly was a genuine pauper, he left the Lania Mountain Range.
This battle had not given Simon much practical combat experience. Aside from being bold and brainless, John's strength had truly been mediocre.
This made Simon even more certain that the God-Level experts of the Rayast Continent were generally quite weak. They could even be described as a bunch of rookies pecking at each other.
Or rather, God-Level experts on Material Planes were generally like this.
The truly astonishing experts had long since stepped out of the comfortable confines of Material Planes and gone to the Supreme Planes, where powerful experts were endless.
Once Simon finished exploring the Endless Sea and the Shadow Continent and broke through to become a Midgod, he too planned to head to a Supreme Plane and face genuine challenges.
Simon continued westward, intending to try his luck in Loya City, the capital of the Loya Empire near the Endless Sea. He hoped to find a master smith there who could forge the armor and then nurture it into a true defensive divine artifact.
Nothing happened along the way, and Simon leisurely spent several days arriving at Loya City.
His Divine Sense covered the entire imperial capital, and sure enough, he discovered a God-Level expert.
Before coming here, Simon had guessed that the Loya Empire most likely had a God-Level expert guarding it. After all, this was an ancient empire whose overall strength surpassed even the Gale Empire. It had endured for over ten thousand years and was one of the few ancient empires on the Rayast Continent that had existed for such a long time.
"Which friend has come to visit?"
An aged voice sounded in Simon's mind.
"Greetings. My name is Simon Herbert, from the Gale Empire. I am merely passing through your territory and have come specifically to pay a visit."
"So you are a friend from the Gale Empire. My name is Loya Damon. Welcome, welcome."
A flash of fire streaked past, and Loya appeared before Simon. After sizing him up, he said,
"What a young fellow. You were the one who became a god some time ago, weren't you?"
"That was indeed me. I came uninvited, so I hope you will forgive the intrusion."
Simon spoke modestly. They were both members of the Human Race, and Loya had become a god over ten thousand years ago, so Simon still held him in great respect.
"Haha, why be so polite? Brother Simon has come from afar, so come visit my place and let me play the host."
"Then I will trouble you, senior."
Within the other man's imperial capital, Simon was not worried that Loya would suddenly turn hostile.
After chatting for a while, Simon learned that the red-haired elder before him cultivated the Law of Fire and was still a Lowgod.
However, from Simon's observations, Loya was far stronger than John. The intensity of the aura he gave off alone was beyond anything John could compare to.
Simon then explained why he had come, hoping Loya could help him find a master smith.
To his surprise, Loya burst out laughing.
"What a coincidence. Before becoming a god, I was already proficient in forging. I personally forged all my weapons and armor. Whenever my hands get itchy these days, I still fire up the furnace and forge things to keep my skills sharp."
Simon was delighted upon hearing this. He had not expected Loya to be skilled in forging as well.
"That is truly wonderful. I recently acquired some rare materials, and I hope you can help me forge them into Divine Artifact Armor."
"Oh? Forging armor is no easy task, especially Divine Artifact Armor. The materials it requires are far from ordinary, and they are difficult to gather on a Material Plane. Have you prepared them, Brother Simon?"
"Please take a look, brother."
Simon took out the dragon scales he had just obtained.
The dragon scales immediately appeared before Loya, radiating purple light.
"These dragon scales, and this aura... they seem very familiar. Where did you get them, Brother Simon?"
It was quite a coincidence. Not long ago, when I was passing through the Lania Mountain Range, someone named John attacked me. After a battle, he was no match for me and was killed. Naturally, I obtained these dragon scales."
"No wonder they looked familiar. I never expected that John, who had run rampant for thousands of years, would be killed by you. Haha, well killed!"
Loya said happily. "That Thunder Dragon had harassed the borders of my Loya Empire more than once. I had originally planned to kill him and take his dragon scales to forge a set of armor after breaking through to become a Midgod. I never expected Brother Simon to beat me to it."
"Haha, then consider it my doing Brother Loya a favor by removing a great menace. These dragon scales should be enough to forge several sets of armor. I will give one to you when they are finished, as payment for the forging. What do you think?"
"How could I accept that? There are many people who can forge armor, but scales from a Thunder Dragon that has become a god are exceedingly rare. How could I take advantage of you, little brother?"
Although Loya said he could not accept it, his eyes seemed glued to the dragon scales.
Simon could only continue persuading him.
"I came from afar and did not prepare any gift. The armor forged from these dragon scales can serve perfectly as a meeting gift. Besides, forging armor is hard work. And I would not feel at ease asking anyone else. How could their craftsmanship compare to yours, brother? If you keep refusing, you will be looking down on me."
Hearing this, Loya no longer stood on ceremony. He accepted the dragon scales and brought Simon to his private forging chamber, an Underground Forge.
"This place has a giant furnace formed by a natural volcano, making it ideal for forging armor blanks. I will not take advantage of you, little brother. When forging the armor, I will add some materials from my collection and strive to create the finest armor possible."
"Then I will leave it to you, brother."
With that, Loya first tossed a pile of ores into the furnace and professionally processed the entire set of dragon scales. Based on Loya's assessment, these dragon scales, combined with his materials, could produce roughly five armor blanks.
This matched Simon's expectations. After giving one to Loya, the remaining four would be just enough for his own arrangements.
Three days later, the dragon scales had been processed. Loya then fused the extracted ore essence with the dragon scales and employed a series of specialized techniques. After several months, the five sets of armor were finally forged.
Simon kept his promise and gave one set to Loya. He then bound the remaining armor with blood and stored it within his body for nurturing. Once they truly became divine artifacts, Simon would leave one set for the family. The other three would be more than enough for him.
Loya happily looked at the armor in his hands.
"Haha, I had coveted Thunder Dragon scales for thousands of years, yet I never expected to obtain them so easily. The world truly is wonderful. Brother Simon's methods are also remarkable. John was easy to defeat, but very difficult to kill. Thunder Dragons were naturally skilled in speed, and as one who cultivated the Laws of Lightning, he ran even faster.
"I fought him several times. Every time, I could injure him, but I could never kill him. I had planned to break through to become a Midgod and use my Godhead Domain to suppress him before taking his life. Now, I have been spared a great deal of trouble."
"Haha, I merely took advantage of John's carelessness and got lucky with one strike. If he had reacted and escaped, I would not have been able to catch him either."
Simon said, half-truthfully.
"That Thunder Dragon was indeed difficult to kill. Brother Simon, you are very strong."
Loya knew full well that among Lowgods, unless the gap in strength was enormous, it was very difficult to decide life and death. After all, one could flee if one could not win. He also knew Simon had not told the whole truth.
That was perfectly normal. Loya would not dig into it, as everyone had their secrets.
Respecting others' secrets was also an understanding shared between the strong.
Simon then took the opportunity to ask Loya about many hidden matters of the continent. What Simon cared about most, naturally, was how many God-Level experts still existed on the continent.
First Arriving at the Endless Sea
Loya did not keep it secret. Simon would learn sooner or later anyway. According to him, before Simon became a god, there had been fewer than ten active God-Level experts in the entire plane, and fewer than five on the Rayast Continent. Now that Simon had killed one, only four old-established God-Level experts remained.
However, adding Simon's recent ascension and the fluctuation of the Laws of Heaven and Earth caused by another recent ascension, Loya estimated that there were now at most six God-Level experts on the Rayast Continent, and they were most likely all Lowgods.
As for whether the other old-established Lowgods had gone to the Supreme Planes through Teleportation Formations, even Loya did not know. After all, he had not traveled the continent for a long time.
Usually, only when an empire guarded by a God-Level expert collapsed would the outside world learn that the god had either fallen or gone to another plane.
The most recent change of empire had occurred over a thousand years ago, when the Gale Empire overthrew the Robes Empire. During the few hundred years before the Gale Empire was established, the Laws of Heaven and Earth had descended twice. Loya speculated that the first time was likely when Robes, the founding expert of the Robes Empire, broke through to become a Midgod and went to a Supreme Plane. The second time was when Edward became a god, after which he overthrew the Robes Empire and established the present Gale Empire.
From Loya, Simon learned that long ago, all regions of the Rayast Continent suitable for human survival and reproduction had already been divided among human gods.
The great empires of the continent all had God-Level experts guarding them, while the large Magical Beast Mountain Ranges were also occupied by God-Level magical beasts. This had become a common understanding across the continent. Once one became a god, one was qualified to carve out one's own sphere of influence.
Loya also suggested that Simon choose a region and establish his own empire, spreading his own faith to accelerate cultivation. Simon naturally knew that the power of faith was useful, but he was currently still advancing rapidly in cultivation. Spending vast amounts of energy building an empire and spreading faith to accelerate his cultivation was not worthwhile.
Moreover, what Simon longed for were the superior cultivation environments and fiercer competition of the Supreme Planes.
Right now, Simon only wanted to become a Midgod as soon as possible. Once he stabilized his strength, he would leave the Rayast Plane, so there was no need to establish an empire.
Besides, the three provinces currently controlled by the Herbert Family were already enough to prosper. As for whether the family patriarch or some elder might become a god using John's Godhead and later wish to establish an empire, that would be their own matter.
Once Loya learned that Simon had no intention of reshuffling the continent's power structure, he secretly sighed in relief. How could someone capable of killing John, who had roamed free for thousands of years, lack real skill? Loya would not underestimate someone merely because they had become a god recently. The last person to make that mistake had already become the armor in his hands.
Loya also understood the thoughts of geniuses who became gods after cultivating for only a few decades. He knew none of them were willing to remain obscure. All of them wanted to reach a larger stage as quickly as possible and temper themselves.
As for Loya himself, he had spent more than two thousand years struggling in the Saint Realm before becoming a god. He knew his own talent well. Rather than suffer in the Supreme Planes, he would rather live freely as a ruler on a Material Plane.
If he broke through to become a Midgod in the future and grew tired of the Rayast Plane, he might also visit the Supreme Planes, filled with endless slaughter, to broaden his horizons. After all, he too dreamed of becoming strong. Even if he could not become a peak expert himself, he could at least witness the splendor of those peak experts.
Thus, Loya and Simon talked about many things, and both came to understand each other's thoughts.
Simon also respected Loya's choice. The Supreme Planes were extremely cruel, and before possessing sufficient strength, even Simon would not dare go there rashly.
After their conversation, Simon felt that Loya was a friend worth making. The two formally addressed each other as brothers. Loya was much older and more experienced, so Simon naturally regarded Loya as his elder brother.
Simon then stayed with Loya for another half month and experienced the treatment of a mortal emperor. The many famous ladies and princesses of the empire were also extremely curious about this mysterious and handsome young man, competing to flatter him. However, Simon was focused wholeheartedly on cultivation and could only refuse them all.
"A life of comfort really does wear down one's fighting spirit."
Simon said to Loya with a sigh. "Thank you for your hospitality, brother, but I must set out for the Endless Sea."
"Why not stay a little longer, little brother? I still have plenty of fun things I have not introduced you to."
Loya said with a somewhat improper smile.
After spending time together, Simon had discovered that this seemingly serious old man was actually someone who loved having fun and knew how to enjoy himself. Even Simon, who had endured the information bombardment of his previous life, could not help but marvel at how well Loya knew how to have fun.
Before you continue